This post is for all the maids of honor out there, so brides-to-be should forward this post onto their sisters, cousins, and best girlfriends. Remember, you can't plan your own bridal shower, but you can give your gal pals hints as to what kind of shower you'd like best!So, MOHs...it's time for you to start thinking about your bride's shower. Don't be intimidated -- you may have read a lot of rules in bridal magazines or on the big web sites, but really, there's nothing to it. You don't have to have white and pink invitations, fancy cocktails, or bridal shower favors if you're friend isn't a girly girl. Heck, you don't even have to have a standard party!
Here are some shower ideas that will help you plan a fun get-together for the bride, your friends, and the older generation of women in your social circle.
Kitchen showers are big right now, and they're quite practical as parties go. Very few younger brides have all of the kitchen implements they'll want in later years, so it's easy to find gifts. If the bride doesn't have a registry set up, ask her what she needs so you can spread the word. For refreshments, little gourmet treats are great -- even if they're just from the freezer section of the supermarket.
Then there are lingerie and spa showers. At the former, guests bring frilly underthings for the bride, who is often compelled to try each piece on (over her clothes, of course) for the amusement of the assembled ladies. Sometimes the lingerie chosen is silly rather than sexy, so everyone has a good laugh. At a spa shower, guests present the bride with things like skin treatment gift sets, cosmetics, or bath powder and perfumes.
When people think of bridal showers, they tend to picture a gaggle of girls all giggling in a fancifully decorated living room. Everyone is sipping champagne cocktails and eating petit fours while watching the bride open her gifts. That's one kind of shower, but certainly not the only kind! You can host a shower in a restaurant, at a skate rink, in the park, or at any other venue. Maybe you're friend the bride would rather have a casual barbecue with wings and beer than a girly party with lots of sweets.
That brings us to yet another kind of shower -- the activity based shower. From a day at the nail salon to a day at the indoor rock climbing place, choose an activity you know the bride-to-be will like and the guests will enjoy. If you know that some guests won't want to participate in the chosen activity, you can divide the day into two parts. The people who want manicures can meet up first, then everyone else can meet up later for lunch and cocktails.
You can do a mini-shower at the cosmetics counter at a fine department store -- call ahead and explain that you have several women who want makeovers and do a day of bonding over shopping. In some cases, the makeup company will even throw in some free gifts for the wedding party or bride. It's fun and inexpensive, and (like we said above) you can follow up with dinner or drinks.
Click to learn more about hosting a bridal shower
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